Re: [asa] Science as Christian vocation

God's use of death as a crucial part of the process whereby new forms of life are created does, it seems to me, sharpen
concerns that people have with the reality of death and the goodness of God, beyond what the simple fact of death. The theology of the cross, while it doesn't "solve" this problem in a simple way, puts it in a new light by (a) showing that this means of creation bears the mark of God's fundamental revelatory act, cross & resurrection, & (b)telling us that God is involved in the process on the side of those who die.

We can get at John's concern - i.e., does God's use of suffering & death legitimate eugenics, abortion &c - by considering God's creative work in terms of categories of Luther's related to the theology of the cross. These categories are God's "proper work" and God's "alien work." God's proper work is work that reflects God's nature as love, work of blessing & life - crudely speaking, what God "really wants to do." God's alien work is what work really foreign to the divine character but that God does in order to be able to do his proper work, condemnation and death. In these terms, the death involved in evolution is God's alien work done for the sake of bringing forth life.

Now to a certain extent our activity as "co-creators" can be thought of in parallel to those categories. Surgeons cutting off limbs to save lives and justifiable wars are examples of things that in themselves are bad but are done for the sake of a greater good. But here we have to be careful and must consider seriously whether or not "the greater good" is really in accord with God's intention for the world or is just _our_ greater good. (Only in the former case is what we do genuine "co-creation." Te appropriateness of eugenic practices or abortion _in particular situations_ would have to be evaluated in that light.

This will be unsatisfactory for those who who want to rule out such practices absolutely, just as the idea of justifiable war makes pacifists uncomfortable. To that I will only say that I've tried to base this on an understanding of the way God works & our calling to be God's representatives in caring for creation, while an absolute principle of "sanctity of life" has little if any theological basis.

Shalom,
George

---- Keith Miller <kbmill@ksu.edu> wrote:
> John Walley wrote:
>
> > Interesting. I think one of the issues the church has with
> > evolution and TE is because they don't want to accept the seemingly
> > harsh and cruel concept of survival of the fittest. But if this was
> > God's mechanism of creating life in the animal world, how do we
> > then bridge the gap to the sanctity of life in humans?
> >
> > This opens a tremendus can of worms, not only eugenics but
> > abortion, human relief etc. What is the stopgap to prevent the
> > logical progression to the liberal theology of Schmucker?
>
> "Survival of the fittest" is a caricature of evolution. Evolution
> only presupposes what we all recognize as the reality of nature.
> That is, death is a given, and that those individuals that die before
> reproduction are on average less fit than those that survive.
> Moreover, that fitness is completely relative to the current
> environment in which that individual lives. Fitness is not an
> absolute quantity - it is not a statement that one individual is
> better in any absolute sense. In evolution, an unfit character can
> become fit with a change in the environment.
>
> On this question, evolution posses no significantly new theological
> problems than are already present with the recognition that death has
> been an integral part of creation from the beginning. This is just
> an extension of the Problem of Pain and the Problem of Natural Evil.
> This is nothing new with evolution.
>
> As has been discussed frequently on this list, God's creative action
> in and through the death and pain embedded in creation can be seen as
> consistent with and reflective of Christ. The Creator is the Crucified.
>
> Keith
>
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Received on Wed Feb 4 11:18:10 2009